A/N: Due to the fact that Ava wrote this chapter, the slapstick comedy is…nil. She sucks at comedy and excels in flangst. Forgive her, please?
A/N II: Li wants Ava to know she made her cry during this chapter! And for that *points* you people should not forgive her! She doesn't deserve it! Just kidding, love.
Chapter 14
Li: Y'know, it just occurred to me…
Ava:Oh, God, she's having thoughts.
Adara: Li, we talked about this…
Li: ignores This movie is probably the most ridiculously, awesomely awful thing ever created in the history of ever.
Ava and Adara: blink blink
Li: Think about it!
Ava: ponders Yeah, she's…kind of right, sis. I mean, there's no historical accuracy—
Adara: No clearly defined plan—
Li: Very little plot—
Adara: A complete disregard for period language—
Ava: And no redeeming social quality whatsoever.
Li: …No wonder no one talks to us.
Adara: Well, I like us, anyway.
A random PA comes over.
Li: What?
PA: bows We've finished copying the script edits, milady.
Li: takes Thank you. Now begone, slave.
PA: scurries away
Adara: …What the hell was that?
Li: What?
Ava: That.
Li: What?
Adara: "Begone, slave"? WTF?
Li: …That's what he was.
Ava: No. He was a PA.
Li: looks blank
Ava: …Never mind. Scripts, please.
Li: …I don't wanna give them to you now.
Adara and Ava growl and tackle her, and they all fall down in a heap of limbs.
Li: manages to get Rico Suave to her mouth Aaaaaaand…ACTION!!!
Kurama: watching the spectacle They all used to be so normal…
Hiei: Yup.
XXX
Benji was dreaming.
Some part of him knew it for a fact, but he just couldn't bring himself to care; this particular dream was more of a memory, and because it involved Miguel, it was an unequivocally pleasant one.
It had happened on a Monday. Benji would always remember, because up until that point of his ten-year history, it had always been his least favorite day.
So as he walked, Benji pondered the weather and Mondays; his doing so was interrupted, however, when something very unexpected happened.
A most unwelcome object fell from the sky and landed directly on his noggin. The thing happened to be a little, beige sandal. Simple, and yet it begged to be noticed.
The sandal of self-proclaimed importance, if it could speak, would have said, "Hello there! Yes, I know I'm terribly fascinating, but now I would like for you to look up!"
So he did.
Up, where the shoe had come from, was a tree. On that tree was a branch. And clinging to that branch was a boy.
At least, he thought it was a boy. He couldn't see him…her…it…very well. He could definitely pinpoint, though, that there was something vaguely boy-shaped hanging onto the tree limb for dear life.
"Excuse me," Benji called, fetching the sandal from the grass. "Is this yours?"
"…Uh-huh," the boy said nervously. At that point Benji was still assuming it was a boy; it could have been a girl, he supposed, but he was almost positive that what he heard was the voice of a boy. "I've been stuck in this tree for hours..."
"Well, why'd you climb up there in the first place?"
"I saw a butterfly and I was so excited because I don't see them very much anymore. And then it flew away so I followed it up and up and up into the tree, but now I can't get down."
"Did you try to climb down?"
"I'm scared..."
"Can you jump down?"
"It's too high. I'd get hurt."
"What if I catch you?"
"How do I know for sure that you'll catch me?"
"You can trust me."
"I...don't know," the boy said, wrapping himself tighter around the branch. "I don't want to jump."
"What's your name?" Benji asked.
The boy turned his head to look at Benji. Though Benji could only make out a person-shaped lump, it seemed the other boy had a perfect view of what Benji looked like. "I'm...Miguel."
The white-haired boy smiled toward the branch, tossing the sandal aside and outstretching his arms. "Miguel, if you jump, I'm going to catch you. And if I miss for any reason, I will sit by your bedside and send you good, healing thoughts."
"Really?"
"Actually, the truth is, I would run away very quickly so the guilt can't be pinned on me." He chuckled.
"Oh…Well, your honesty is nice!"
"But I won't miss."
"Promise?"
"I wouldn't dare not to."
"Okay. I'm letting go…now!"
And the boy fell, his arms flying out with abandon. His sleeves caught the air and he looked like a baby bird trying to fly for the first time.
And just as Benji had promised, he caught Miguel. (Who was, as he had guessed, a boy.) Only he didn't expect what he saw when he looked at Miguel for the first time.
Miguel wasn't like anyone he'd ever seen before.
From the first time his eyes fluttered open to reveal sparkling, emerald eyes, Benji knew that he would never see anyone like him again.
"Miguel," Benji said softly, heart pounding with adrenaline.
Miguel, who still was trying to catch his own breath, nodded back. "You saved me from the tree. Thank you...um...what's your name?"
"Benji."
Miguel sat up, brushing back the overgrown bangs that had fallen into his eyes, only to have them fall again when he leaned forward. "Benji. You look like a Benji," Miguel decided. He began to giggle, as sun-kissed freckles lit up every feature of his pale face. "Benji..."
Benji, much to his own surprise, leaned closer to Miguel. Their faces were so close to each other that their foreheads and noses touched. "You're very shiny."
"I'm not...shiny." Miguel pouted. "Metal is shiny, jewelry is shiny... People can't be shiny."
Benji smiled and placed his chin on Miguel's speckled shoulder. "Can I keep you?"
The childishness of the question was absurd, but not to Benji. Not to Miguel.
"Y...yes."
"BENJAMIN CARLOS GUEVARA!" a little girl shouted from across the way. Her choppy black hair framed her face in a classically beautiful way, but even that looked angry as she strode purposefully toward them.
Benji laughed. "That's Jillian. She's my—" He stopped because he noticed he was talking to no one. Only a beige sandal.
And as Benji knelt to pick it up, he wondered if he would ever see Miguel again.
The sandal was the only one that knew he would.
XXX
Benji's brow furrowed as he felt himself begin to wake up, and he could tell immediately by the cold air at his side that the space next to him was empty. That was unusual; Miguel usually liked to wake up with his lover.
Every muscle protesting, the captain rolled out of bed, hit the floor on his stomach, and climbed regretfully to his feet. Even the floor had been more attractive than getting up and facing the day.
But Miguel wasn't in the cabin, so face the day he must, if only to find his momentarily lost lover.
As it turned out, the redhead hadn't ventured far—only to the brig, where he was helping Erik finish the inventory that had gotten, er…interrupted. Miguel smiled as Benji came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist.
"You snuck out."
Miguel chuckled. "I got up and left. It's not my fault you snore too loud to hear anything else over the racket."
Benji pouted. "Meanie."
"Yes."
"We docking soon?"
"Yup. We've already spotted land. I give it another half hour or so, if everyone's doing what they're supposed to."
"…So I have a couple more hours to sleep, is what you're saying."
Miguel rolled his eyes. "Yes, Benji, that's exactly what that means." He turned and dropped a sack of beans into Benji's arms. "Help Erik. I'm getting coffee."
"Heeeeey!"
XXX
The second time Benji and Miguel met, Miguel quickly figured out just how easy Benji was to handle—provided that the handler was beautiful, of a (very) distant Irish descent, and sported red hair and a voice that sounded like the quiet tinkling of bells.
Great, I sound like I've swallowed a romance novel.
Maybe he had. It was the only possible explanation for why, when he spotted Miguel from his secluded little corner at a local noble's party, Benji's heart skipped a beat. After all, Benji didn't like boys that way. Or girls, for that matter.
Benji didn't really like anyone, come to that… At the mature age of eleven, he was already as jaded and cranky as a seventy-year-old homeless man.
But he liked Miguel.
"…Benji?"
Benji blinked. He did it again. Nope, it wasn't a hallucination; Miguel was now standing right in front of him, staring confusedly at him with those soft green eyes that had haunted his dreams for the past six months.
"What are you doing here?"
"…I was invited…?" Benji replied, as though Miguel were a bit slow and in need of assistance to reach the point of the conversation. It was a tone that Miguel would soon turn around on him, and use at least once a minor argument and in any situation that he felt Benji needed to be mocked in.
Benji would learn to love that tone.
Miguel blinked. "Oh. Right."
They stood there staring at each other for a moment, feeling awkward for not feeling awkward, until a slow waltz started and most of the party moved onto the dance floor; only a few widowed nobles and most of the children remained against the walls or at the tables.
"Wanna dance?"
Benji stared at him, but the blank look had nothing to do with the absurdity of a nine-year-old boy asking an eleven-year-old-boy to waltz at him. That thought never crossed his mind, truth be told. "…I don't know how."
Miguel smiled at that. "I'll teach you."
"Um…okay." It wasn't that he was afraid of the idea of the dancing itself; it was more that he was terrified of embarrassing himself in front of what could very possibly be the most beautiful human being he'd ever seen in his life.
Miguel gave him a reassuring smile and took his hand. "Don't worry. No one will laugh."
You might.
He hadn't said that aloud, but it was a close thing.
That was the last thought he had time for before they were whirling away onto the dance floor. Benji was clumsy at first, but he picked up the steps quickly; Miguel, meanwhile, danced as though he'd done it his entire life—which, Benji reminded himself, he probably had.
"Where did you learn to do this?"
Miguel laughed, and that, too, sounded like a silver bell chiming. "You can hire a tutor for practically anything in this city, provided you have enough money."
"Ah."
They danced in silence for a moment, before Benji spoke again. "So, noticed anything missing lately?"
Miguel looked at him as though he'd gone crazy. "Um?"
Benji chuckled. "You left your shoe by the tree."
Miguel looked momentarily confused. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh. Oops."
"Do you seriously have that many shoes, that you didn't notice one was gone?"
"Well…yes, if you must know."
Benji roared with laughter.
Miguel glared. "Shut up."
"But you're such a girl!"
"I said shut up."
XXX
They'd danced the night away that evening, and at the end of the night, the goodbyes had had an air of impermanence; both had known it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other.
Even then, they'd known where they were going.
XXX
"Okay, I think we're finished."
Miguel clapped his hands happily. "Yay! Lunchtime!"
Erik chuckled and shook his head as he followed the energetic redhead out of the brig. "You could always wait until we dock and go to a tavern."
Miguel looked absolutely scandalized.
"…Right. Forget I said anything."
The redhead opened his mouth to reply, but had it closed for him rather abruptly when he was tackled from the side by a blur of tan, green, and white.
"BEEEEEN-JI!"
Benji grinned down at his lover, who was now pinned between his arms on the deck. "You need to work on your reflexes, love."
Erik rolled his eyes. "Benji, get off him."
"No."
"Yes," Miguel replied.
"No."
"Yes!" Miguel and Erik shouted together.
Benji blinked. "…No."
Erik threw up his hands in disgust. "Whatever. I'm getting food." And he did just that, his shoulders shaking with what looked suspiciously like laughter.
Benji watched him go, then looked back down at Miguel with a predatory grin. "Alone at last…"
Miguel raised an eyebrow at him. "We were alone all night, Benji. We're alone all the time. We need to not be alone anymore."
"Bite your tongue!"
"…I could… Or…"
The little grin on his face was just too enticing for Benji to ignore, and he swooped down for a kiss as both of them fell back into fantasy once more…
XXX
Their relationship flourished in ways that neither one could have known to expect.
The week after the party, they ran into one another on the street—that is to say, Benji mildly stalked Miguel through the city until the redhead turned around and noticed him trailing behind. Unfortunately, Benji's perpetual tagalong, Jillian, was trailing behind the trailer, which led to all sorts of disagreeable circumstances.
But Jillian was, if anything, Benji's better half, and the three formed a fast and lasting friendship. They did absolutely everything together—a fact that may have been frowned upon if all three hadn't been decent, high-society children who, on the surface, showed absolutely no concern for anything other than the most mundane and superficial practicalities of life.
In the presence of their families, they remained absolutely limitless in their materialism, their carelessness, and their steadfast disdain for all things ugly, cheap, or otherwise low-class.
The pages of their lives bore striking contrast to the covers, however. The three soon learned the benefits of exploring different quarters of the city than their own, and they began to haunt previously unknown and uncharted places with an almost supernatural devotion.
At eleven, Miguel began a "school" for the young children of poverty-stricken families, gathering with them in a convenient cave well-hidden in the rocky cliffs by the beach outside the city, and teaching them important skills such as reading, writing, basic arithmetic, history, and geography as well as he could at such an early age. Benji—always eager to help however he could—taught them fencing, archery, shooting, and hand-to-hand combat to the best of his abilities, and Jillian reveled in the opportunity to impart her vast knowledge of art on those less fortunate—though certainly no less intelligent—than herself.
But the innovations didn't stop there.
Miguel possessed a boundlessly charitable nature and an unquenchable will to do good, and having true, undyingly loyal friends at his side sparked an audacity in him that he'd never known before. It was as though knowing he had someone at his back gave him the courage to look forward, and to act on what he saw and felt.
Small gifts began finding their way onto the doorsteps and into the homes of his most impoverished and unfortunate "students"—sometimes clothes, sometimes bits of candy and other treats, sometimes whatever wholesome foods he could sneak away from the dinner table, or sometimes simply small pouches of coins.
It was as though good fairies had descended upon that little seaside city, and for a short, shining while, the little troupe's happiness and goodwill knew no bounds.
Meanwhile, Miguel and Benji's relationship developed slowly but steadily, much to Jillian's secret amusement. That good young lady stood by and watched cheerfully as her two closest friends began the process of phasing her out, any sorrow she might have felt over her third-wheel status being firmly and completely eclipsed by her sincere wish to see her friends happy.
And happy they were…
They might have known it couldn't possibly last.
XXX
"CANNON BAAAAAAAAAAALL!"
Benji yelped loudly as Rin dropped from the rigging and onto his shoulders, then bounced off and landed smoothly on her feet on the deck.
"Morning, Rin."
"Mornin'." She took a swig from her mug of beer. "It's too early for that, y'all. Go do something useful with your time, good God."
Benji scowled mockingly, removing the drink from her hand and taking a gulp. "Don't you have someplace to be, monkey?"
"Nope."
"...Well, then, find someplace to be, and be there."
Rin growled good-naturedly and bounced away, careful to knock the mug out of the captain's hands as she skipped past.
Miguel laughed. "I love you people...so very, very much..."
"Good to know someone does," Benji replied, kicking the mug aside and sweeping his lover back into his arms. "Now, where were we?"
Miguel opened his mouth, fully intent on replying...when a bit of dust flew up his nose.
"I—I don't—A-a-a-CHOO!"
Benji squealed loudly and clapped his hands. "Do it again! Do it again do it again do it again!"
Miguel shook his head. "Sorry. You have work to do."
"...But...but...but..."
"No buts, Benji! Work!"
"... But—"
XXX
6:47 A.M.
An hour and seventeen minutes late.
Miguel hated it when Benji kept him waiting, even though it was always worth the wait. It was the principle of the thing.
Suddenly, as if in direct reply to his thoughts, a familiar pair of arms wrapped around him.
He fought the urge to shout. His efforts weren't in vain; only a small "Eep!" escaped his lips.
One arm draped over Miguel's shoulder and the other rose to his mouth as the cautious whisper of his friend came to his ear. "Shhh... it's me."
Miguel wouldn't have screamed anyway, because it was a precaution that he'd become accustomed to whenever Benji snuck into his room at a late hour—or, as in this case, an early hour.
Still, no matter how many times it happened, Miguel never even suspected that Benji was in the room until he was suddenly... there! So every precaution was necessary.
Which was why Benji had been so careful. If Miguel's parents found out they'd been spending extra time together, without Jillian as a sort of buffer of sensibility, they'd start to suspect...
Miguel's breath caught in his throat as Benji released him. "Benjiiiii," he whined as Benji moved onto his bed. He sprawled across it on his back and looked lazily up at Miguel.
"Aww, c'mon little bit." Benji chuckled. "You know you'd just die," he said as he threw a teddy bear at his red-haired companion, "if I didn't grace you with my presence."
"Bennnn-ji!" Miguel growled, tidying up the mess Benji had made of his bed. "I'm not little!"
"What'd you say?"
Benji enjoyed seeing Miguel scrunch up his little nose in annoyance almost as much as loved to make him smile. But he had never heard Miguel say his name in "irritation" before. It was cute! He'd have to figure out how to get him to do it again.
God, I'm a sadist, Benji thought to himself.
"I said I'm not little." Miguel pouted. "I'm twelve years old now. I've grown a whole two inches this year."
"A whole two inches!" Benji smiled. "So that would make you the tallest girl in all the land,, right?"
The red head exhaled through his nose, causing his bangs to fly off his forehead. "That's not very nice, Benji..."
"I'm sorry, Miguel. You're the most tallest and prettiest girl in all the land. Better?"
"I'm not a girl!" Miguel cried. "And you... You're a big dummy head!"
"But I said you were pretty..."
Miguel sniffled. "Go 'way."
"Don't wanna."
"Ben."
"Who's...Ben?"
"Benjamin...Guevara...?"
"Don't know him."
"I'm gonna throw you off the balcony."
"Please don't send me away," Benji replied as his bottom lip became more pronounced.
"Well..." Miguel sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
The white-haired youth's lips cracked into a slight smile. "You are so easy..."
Miguel's brow lowered. "Goodbye, Benji."
The red head made quick work of dragging Benji to the window and shoving him out onto the balcony.
"Hey!" Benji shouted. "That is not the way I came up."
"Shut-up! You'll wake my parents."
Benji shrunk. "Sorry."
"I'm going to bed."
"No, no, no, no. Don't be mad at me," Benji pleaded. "I have a surprise for you!"
"Not interested." Miguel smiled demurely and closed the door to his room,, leaving Benji alone and rather pathetic-looking on the balcony.
"No, no, no!" The persistent boy tapped on the glass door, the rapping growing steadily louder until it was a miracle that Miguel's parents didn't come in bearing clubs and pistols and expensive statuary and whatever else a rich family might use to defend themselves from an intruder.
The tiny Spaniard walked up to the door, smiling coyly and looking out at him through the little window. "Yeeees?"
Benji, in response, pointed to the lock and mouthed,. "Open... the... door!"
Miguel nodded and kindly pulled the curtains across the door.
Benji sighed. "Really? Well now I'm just insulted..." Then, with a little hmph of annoyance, he pulled out his lock pick. The locked clicked open momentarily and Benji pushed the door in, arranging his face in a faintly irritated expression before stepping back inside. "You're really just too—"
"Easy," Miguel said from the edge of the balcony. "Yeah, I know."
"...How long have you been there?"
"You don't want me to answer that."
"Why?"
"It'll just hurt your ego."
"Fair enough."
"So...where are we going?"
Benji smiled, taking his future partner by the hand. "Down." In one fluid motion he pulled Miguel to his chest and slid down the rope he used to scale the wall. Once they were safely on the ground, Benji lowered his friend to his feet. "I'm sorry about calling you girly..."
Miguel would have been completely terrified by the sudden drop if he hadn't trusted Benji so completely. He turned to Benji and hugged him tightly. "I forgive you, 'tupid Benji!"
"I really do have a surprise for you, though." Benji grinned, leading Miguel away from the villa.
"There's a reason you're my favorite Benji."
"I thought I was the only Benji."
"You are, but if there were another Benji, you'd still be my favorite!"
"Thank you, Miguel. I feel soooo much better now."
Miguel laughed. "How much further?"
"Not much further. Close your eyes."
"Okay." Miguel giggled, following the instructions as Benji took his hand. "Now?"
"Not yet."
"Okay... Now?"
"Patience."
"Can I open them...now?"
"Nice try, but no."
"How about—"
"No."
"Can I just—"
"No." Benji chuckled, pushing the redhead from behind now, covering Miguel's eyes with his other hand to make sure they stayed closed.
Miguel giggled. "Benjiiii..."
"No peeking!"
"But—"
"Shh! No talkie!"
"Benji—"
"Do I have to cover your mouth, too?"
"Nooooo. I'll be quiet, I promise."
Silence.
"Are we there yet?"
"A whole ten seconds! That's a record."
"Mmmfh..."
"You can open them now."
"Really?"
"Oh, for the love of... Yes!"
Miguel blinked several times into the darkness, before giving up on figuring out the joke and confessing flatly, "I don't see anything."
"Wait."
As if on cue, the sun began to rise over the field, bursting forth with an almost indecent radiance and bathing the meadow before them in pure gold and sparkles, so that Miguel was finally able to see the rainbow of every flower imaginable resting on a deep green bed of clover and fresh grass.
"Oh! Oh, Benji, it's beautiful!"
"Oh, that's not what I wanted to show you…"
Miguel's widened. "You mean there's more?"
Benji only smiled in reply and pulled Miguel out of the trees and onto the field. Startled by the disturbance, the flowers suddenly came alive, moving and shifting and…taking off into the air?
Butterflies. Hundreds and hundreds of butterflies, in every conceivable size and color.
It took Miguel a moment to process what he was seeing as the creatures swarmed around them, dancing in the sunshine and greeting the morning with as much ardor as the redhead could ever hope to see or possess. He froze, and felt Benji do the same next to him, as a mantle of butterflies settled itself over his shoulders and rested there like the most vibrant of shawls.
A small smile began on the redhead's face, then grew steadily until he was positively beaming with glee. "Benji… You found the butterflies for me?"
"Yes, I did." Benji smiled proudly.
"It's the most wonderful thing anyone's ever done for me," Miguel said, so overwhelmed with joy that a few tears welled up in his eyes. "I should do something for you."
"Think nothing of it."
"No, really! I have to—"
At that convenient moment, a butterfly landed on Miguel's nose and the pair fell utterly silent.
"A-a-aaaaa-CHOO!"
That was the first time Benji saw Miguel sneeze.
The poor guy didn't even stand a chance.
XXX
By some unprecedented and inexplicable miracle, the Archangel docked at the next port without incident (trivial things—for instance, Erik upending a bucket of water on Benji's head, Rin falling out of the rigging for the umpteenth time, and Simon "falling" overboard accompanied by hysterical laughter from Jiro—not really being worth noting).
Simon immediately made a beeline for the nearest tavern, leaving the rest of them to unload—much to Rin's relief, though she insisted that had everything to do with simply being glad to be rid of him for a bit, and nothing to do with the fact that his presence drove her absolutely distracted.
After Simon was well and truly away, the rest of the crew began to unload the few things they planned to sell, loaded up on weapons for any possible pillaging and/or plundering that might take place during their brief respite from life at sea, and followed the road to the nearest tavern that their least favorite person in the world hadn't entered.
The place was dark, inhabited mostly by shadows and a few inert bodies. The bartender looked as bored and lifeless as his patrons, and it took him several moments to process their drink orders. A look of comprehension finally dawned on his otherwise empty face, and he grunted in reply and plunked several very dirty mugs on the counter, filling them with the life-giving amber liquid the pirates coveted.
Erik blushed deeply as he was pulled into Jiro's lap, but did nothing to fight the situation. Miguel settled comfortably into Benji's arms, and Rin and Monroe took their own barstools and tried not to mind.
For about ten minutes, they enjoyed their drinks in companionable silence, speaking only occasionally and about trivial matters. But Benji tired of this quiet camaraderie rather quickly, and slammed his fifth mug onto the counter as he snapped, "Okay, this is just ridiculous."
The rest of the company blinked as Benji stood and began to move tables around, clearing out a huge space in the middle of the floor, completely unhindered by anyone else in the place (it had to be concluded that no one could get up the energy). Then the pirate captain vaulted over the bar—the barkeep couldn't seem to bring himself to care—and took a fiddle and its bow off the wall where they hung for decoration. Jumping back to his own side of the counter, he handed the instrument to Jiro. "You know what to do, sir!" Then he took Miguel's hand. "May I have the honor of this dance, mi mariposa?"
Miguel smiled. "Ah, si…"
Jiro grinned, suddenly understanding, and struck up a lively tune on the "borrowed" fiddle. Miguel and Benji didn't miss a beat, beginning a lively two-step in the space Benji had cleared and not seeming to care that the place had finally gotten up enough willpower to stare at them with one collective, critical eye. The two were soon joined by Rin, dragging Monroe behind her, and then Jiro stood and led Erik over; the fiddle never ceased its music all the while.
"Come on, people, life's too short for this!" Miguel shouted, disengaging his hand from Benji's and going over to a young lady who was sitting with a very old man and trying to look vaguely interested in something other than the two gold pieces he was rubbing together. Taking the girl's hand, he took her to the dance floor and tossed her in with the rest; she took on some of their infectious enthusiasm and began to dance with surprising vigor.
Getting the idea, the others began to collect people from the audience, too—only Erik and Monroe declined to participate in this part of the festivities—and soon the entire bar had come alive. Even the bartender got up enough energy to heave himself to his feet and begin to clean his filthy mugs and bottles with an even filthier rag.
It was a good hour or two before the dancing started to taper off; people left the floor in twos and threes, until the pirates were the only ones left. One by one, they, too, fell into seats or onto the floor, breathless with laughter.
Erik and Jiro were the first to sneak off, heading outside to "do questionable things," as Benji put it. Then Rin went to curl up in a corner cradling a cannon ball and a bottle of whiskey. Monroe went next, wandering over to the bartender and striking up a conversation—much to the surprise of the rest of the crew, who sometimes forgot that Monroe even had a voice (or...well...an existence...).
This left Miguel and Benji the lone couple on the dance floor, swaying slowly to the beat of a quickstep and not caring one whit about the general existence of the universe.
XXX
"You love him!"
Benji gave a long-suffering sigh and skillfully avoided the book that was currently being swung at his head. "I do not."
"You love him, you love him, you loooooooove him..."
Benji just shook his head in exasperation and stopped walking, dropping down to sit on the dock and knowing more by instinct than anything else that Jillian would sit gracefully down next to him, once she had stopped laughing long enough to do anything gracefully.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I won't laugh anymore." She sat primly down next to him—she wasn't a lady, but she was a woman, and that status demanded certain things that she just couldn't force herself to forget about—and settled her skirts around her with an unmaidenly curse at their cumbersome circumfrence. "Mierda... I hate being a girl..."
Benji laughed. "You say that now. You'll be singing a different tune when some dashing, handsome young rebel comes in and sweeps you off your feet. Then you'll set about reforming him, as most girls are so fond of doing, and you'll live and die for him and you'll love being a woman, and wonder how you ever could've wished you were anything else."
Jillian snorted, then replied teasingly, "A young rebel! Certainly not! As if I could possibly have eyes for anyone but you, mi amigo encantador."
"Oh, now I'm 'charming.' Earlier today I was the trial of your life and a complete detriment to society at large."
"And I will stand by that to my dying breath."
Benji rolled his eyes. "You couldn't possibly die. Mark my words, Jill; you're going to outlive all of us."
Jillian just smiled.
"...The damned can do that."
She slapped him across the back of the head. "Impertinent boy!"
"Uptight bi—"
"Benjamin Carlos Guevara, you will hold your tongue in the presence of a lady!"
"...You're right. I certainly will."
She nodded, satisfied.
"...Should I ever meet one."
Jillian turned bright red in anger and opened her mouth to reply. The incensed words got lost on the way up, however, and softened quickly to a laugh. "You do enjoy teasing me, don't you?"
Benji's eyes sparkled as he laughed with her. "How could you tell?"
They sat in companionable silence after that, sharing a churro and looking out from the docks over the ocean.
"I'm gonna be out there one day," Benji finally commented softly.
There was a little sadness in Jillian's smile this time as she looked thoughtfully down at her white hands. "With Miguel?"
Benji's tan face became tinted with red, though no one but Jillian and Miguel would have noticed. He tried and failed to stutter a reply, going a shade of red that anyone could have noticed as Jillian laughed loudly.
"I swear, you two are so much deeper in denial than anyone I've ever met!"
Benji scowled. "Shut up, Jill!"
"Not until you admit I'm right."
"You're not!"
"I am!"
"You're not!"
"I am!"
"You're not!"
"I am!"
"...Oh, God, you are."
Jillian grinned in triumph, and Benji couldn't help laughing. When the chuckles finally faded, the quiet returned, and they sat there enjoying it for awhile.
Benji broke the silence by asking softly, "Do you mind at all?"
Jillian chuckled softly. "Mind?" Then she was quiet for a moment, before continuing, "A little."
More silence, during which Jillian played idly with the hem of her skirt, and Benji frowned slightly and thought more serious thoughts than he'd ever experienced in his life.
She smiled then, the look tinged with a bittersweet sort of joy. "You two are going to be great together, you know. You'll set the world on fire."
Benji grinned. "Literally, more likely than not."
They shared another laugh; then Jillian turned to look thoughtfully at the sunset. "Mark my words, Benji. If anyone can escape this place...you guys can." She turned to give him another smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes this time. "Just...be sure to come back for me someday, okay?"
XXX
When Benji and Miguel finally walked off the dance floor and noticed the fragmented remains of their party, they smiled in amusement. Tugging on his lover's hand, Miguel led the pair over to where Monroe was still talking to the bartender.
"Yeah, they're a great bunch," he said happily. "I like to think they're my friends—I like to think they like me—but…it's kind of awkward sometimes. The only one besides me who's not paired off with some else is a girl. And…well, there's Simon, but he doesn't really count towards anything at all."
Benji and Miguel, unaccustomed to hearing such a long speech from the normally mouse-like boy, blinked in surprise; the bartender, however, never having experienced his quiet side, just smiled indulgently and asked, "What do y'all do on the ship?"
"Well, Benji's captain, of course. We laugh because no one ever seems to listen to him, and there's a minor mutiny every other day, but we do actually respect him, you know…really deep down. And then Miguel's first mate, and we listen to him like he's the captain because he's earned it. And Erik's ship doctor and he loves needles enough that the job's not a chore for him at all. And Jiro's the chaplain, which makes for a great joke because none of us have religion and Jiro smokes and drinks and swears and does things that I'm pretty sure God would frown on if She was looking. And Rin's a powder monkey because she loves cannons and says she would marry hers if woman and cannon were allowed to mate. And Simon doesn't do anything at all."
"And what about you?" the bartender asked politely.
"...Me? Oh, I'm…" He blinked, then shrugged and replied innocently, "I'm just nobody, sir. Nobody can't do anything, can he?"
Benji could swear he felt his heart break then, and looking at Miguel, he could tell the redhead felt the exact same thing.
"Nonsense," the man replied kindly. "Nobody is nobody! If you're on that ship with them, it's for a good reason, you mark my words, boy. Answer me true, now. Think real hard. What are you there for?"
Though they couldn't see his face, both Miguel and Benji could sense that it was screwed up in deep thought.
"Well…I…I fix things, sometimes, when they get broken."
"Fix things? Like what things?"
"Well…the mast, sometimes. Or the rails. Or the sides of the boat. Or whatever else gets broken when we sink."
The bartender blinked. "When you…sink? Do you…do that often?"
Monroe shrugged nonchalantly. "Often enough, I guess." He paused, as if something had just clicked into place. "Are we not supposed to?"
The bartender blinked several more times, then noticed Benji and Miguel with relief. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"
Benji blinked; it seemed that the man had finally come to life, and he couldn't help attributing that fact to Monroe. "Um…we just came to collect our cargo and move on," he replied with a wink to Monroe, causing a big smile to break out over the boy's face.
"I don't have any cargo of yours, I'm afraid."
"…Um, you…have my crew member…"
"Yup!" Monroe hopped down off the bar stool. "I guess I'd better be going. It was nice talking to you, mister."
The bartender smiled. "You, too. You boys have a nice voyage, now."
"Well, that's a miracle if I ever saw one," Miguel commented as the three walked away, Benji scooping up Rin's prostrate form and heaving it over his shoulder as they went. "How did you do that?"
Monroe shrugged. "I just talked to him. All he wanted was some company. That's all anyone wants, isn't it?" And with that, he grinned and skipped away towards the tavern across the road.
Miguel stared after him, then commented sadly, "He thinks he's nobody, Benji…"
Benji nodded. "I know. We'll have to do something about that."
"Yeah…" He paused. "Where are Erik and Jiro?"
The captain blinked, then shook his head emphatically. "I don't think I want to know." Then he pulled impatiently on his partner's hand. "Come on come on come on!"
Miguel laughed. "You can't possibly need another drink that badly."
"Yes I do! Come on!"
The redhead just sighed good-naturedly and followed him into the tavern.
There was no need for Jiro's music in this place; it was already quite lively enough. Benji felt completely in his element here, and was quite unabashed in his movements through the crowd towards the bar. Taking a place on a bar stool, he once again pulled Miguel into his lap and watched the rest of the group take similar places to the ones they'd had in the other establishment; the only difference now was that Erik and Jiro were nowhere in sight.
"A refreshment, sirs?" They all looked up at the plump, smiling woman who stood in front of them holding a flagon of mead. "Best in town, that I can promise you."
"Yes, please," Miguel replied.
"Yup!" Rin added, cheerfully ignoring the fact that she had just been referred to as a "sir".
"Me, too," Benji said. "Monroe?"
The boy nodded eagerly.
After she had poured their drinks and lumbered away, the group began to discuss mundane things, giggling at that which wasn't funny and crying about that which wasn't sad, and generally being too far gone to actually have a normal conversation. They continued this way for about an hour, before they were all sobered up by a rather unpleasant interruption.
"Oh, here we are. I was beginning to think you guys had forgotten about me."
Rin glared. "Oh, that we could..."
Simon grinned drunkenly. "I'll take that as a compliment." Leaning forward, he draped himself over the girl's shoulders and murmured, "What say you and I go find a nice little corner and have ourselves some alone time, huh?"
She gave him a disgusted look. "Go screw yourself."
"...But that's not any fun..."
Rin threw up her hands in defeat and turned resolutely away...then stopped, mid-turn, and spun back around to give her enemy an evil smile. "Okay, fine. Let's go...play." And she hopped down off the bar stool and began to weave her way through the crowd. Simon blinked, and followed her.
After circling the floor a couple of times, Simon following Rin with a decidedly confused air, they finally stopped at a table full of—
"Well, 'whores' is such a strong word. Let's call them...'women of loose morals', hmm?"
Simon blinked at her. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope." Then, turning to the six women sitting at the table in front of her, she asked, "Which of you fine ladies is interested in taking this guy on for the evening?" Not one of the women seemed adverse to the idea, so Rin continued cheerfully. "If you can believe what he says, he's great at, er...what he does... And y'all really seem to be...y'know...made for each other. So have at 'im, ladies. He's desperate and he's lonely, and he pays well." She grinned. "All right, have fun, you guys!" Then she turned to walk away, but paused and looked back at them. "Oh, and don't worry. The rash isn't contagious."
"Wait! Rin—!" That was all Simon could get out before the women were on him.
The rest of the party laughed and cheered as Rin returned to them. She bowed humbly before them and, breathless with laughter, took her place again.
"Why on earth would you do that?" Miguel managed to choke out through his laughter. "That was horrible!"
"It was genius!" Benji added enthusiastically.
"…Can someone fill us in, please?" Erik asked from Jiro's lap, having missed most of the fun; Rin noted that his hair looked disheveled, and that Jiro's shirt was on inside out. She just grinned, however, and took a sip of her rum.
"It was quite hilarious," a new voice agreed from behind them, sounding deeply amused by something.
Benji and Miguel blinked, and turned as one to look at the newcomer—a small, smiling woman with long hair and dancing eyes that Benji always swore he wouldn't forget if he lived to be a hundred.
"Oh my God…"
"Oh my God…."
Benji and Miguel looked at each other, looked back at the girl, and screamed, "Jillian!" Then they were on her, knocking the tray of drinks she carried out of her hands and tackling her to the floor.
"Y'know, it's really lucky I've stopped wearing skirts, or this would be an awkward situation," Jillian commented dryly. "Get off me."
Benji started to comply, but Miguel just snuggled closer to his friend and clung tighter. "Nope." So the captain just shrugged and continued with his hug.
"Yes, yes, I missed you, too, but seriously, guys…get off."
They sighed and groaned and protested, but did as ordered—they always had. Nothing much had changed over the years…
XXX
"You are so whipped."
Benji chuckled, and squeezed Miguel's waist lightly. The two were lying on the empty beach, with Miguel curled up between Benji's legs and wrapped in a warm pair of arms, as they watched the stars and listened to the waves crash against the shoreline.
"Give me a break! She's my best friend…"
"And the only one who can ever get you to listen to reason. I get it." Miguel was silent for a moment, then chuckled ruefully. "I'm glad you made the first move, even if it was just because Jill told you to. I don't think I would have had the guts, even though she did tell me exactly what to say."
Benji blinked. "Wait, she talked to you, too?"
Miguel shrugged. "Guess she wanted some extra insurance. She must have figured if she got to both of us, one of us would have to take her advice."
The bleach-blond boy shook his head. "She is the nosiest, most interfering girl I could ever hope to meet…"
"It's lucky you did meet her," Miguel pointed out.
Benji smiled and nodded. "Ah, you speak true, tesoropequeño. She's been a good friend to us."
"The best…"
They fell silent for a moment, before Miguel said what he knew they were both thinking.
"It's nice to know we'll have one supporter in this fiasco." He paused, then asked quietly, "They'll want us to split up, you know. My parents, and…other people. They have…plans, you know. Plans that I don't know if I can get out of. What if they—?"
"They won't. They couldn't."
Miguel sighed and looked sadly out over the water. "Oh, Benny…if you only knew…"
XXX
"I can't believe you're here!"
Miguel laughed happily. "We can't believe you're here!"
"…We? As in…you're all 'we share one brain' now?"
"Um…"
Jillian laughed delightedly as she poured a third round of drinks for the group, among whom she was sitting like a queen on her throne. "Damn, but you guys have gone far since I last saw you! It's a 'we' now… Just…damn."
"I don't know why you're surprised. It was your fault in the first place!"
"Oh, my fault, was it? Because I remember that story a little differently."
"Oh, do you now?"
Another laugh. "Uh-huh. I remember it going something like… 'Oh, Jillian, I just don't know what to do! I'm just so helpless and sad and alone and I love him so much! Help me, Jill!' And then I, of course, in my boundless benevolence and infinite wisdom, replied with something like, 'Of course, my dear boy! This is what you'll do…' Insert sage and sound advice here, and cut to you telling him exactly how you felt—"
"And then leaving me sitting here on my culo for the next decade or so," Miguel finished teasingly. "Tell me, was that your idea, too, Jill?"
Jillian threw up her hands. "Ooooh, no. No, no, no. He gets full credit for that one."
Erik patted Benji on the back. "Good job, buddy. Good job."
"Oh, kiss my perfectly sculpted ass, Erica. I got it together eventually."
Jillian snorted. "By sheer coincidence, and nothing else! See what happens to your life when you don't have your number-one woman around to manage it for you?"
"Hey, what do you know about it?" Benji protested. "You weren't even here for most of it!"
She shrugged. "I hear things. Just because you didn't see me the last time you were here, doesn't mean I didn't see you."
A heavy silence fell, and Benji got a feeling that the pleasantries were over, and that it was time for a more private talk. He looked over at Erik, channeling the wish to his best friend; Erik caught on immediately, and dragged the rest of the group away to the dancing.
They sat staring after the group for a moment, before Jillian commented, "That's a great group you guys have put together there."
Benji smiled slightly. "Yeah, they really are…" He took a sip of his drink, then set it aside. "Why didn't we see you that day?"
She shrugged. "Honestly? I didn't think it would matter that much. I was pretty sure you wouldn't even notice."
Miguel looked intensely uncomfortable.
"What are you talking about?" Benji asked. "It was the one thing that was missing! I almost said as much to Miguel, but…well, honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to know anything."
Neither Miguel nor Jillian had any reply to this.
"I know I had—have—no right to ask this, and I definitely have no right to be angry, but…what did I miss out on while I was gone?"
"I can honestly say that you missed out on very little," Miguel piped up, wrapped his arms around Benji's waist, but remaining on his own stool.
"Yeah. After you left…" Jillian's face grew sad. "I mean, we tried, we really did, but we didn't know where to go from there." She laughed quietly. "Turns out our little group is nothing without the third musketeer."
"Our little 'school' shut down—most of the kids had grown up or lost interest, or their parents found out, or the streets got to them… " Miguel trailed off, an almost haunted look in his eyes, before coming back from wherever he'd been. "My parents pretty much cloistered me after you left. Told me it was 'for the best' and that it was time I found a 'nice girl' to 'settle down with'. Unfortunately, Jillian didn't count, and she was the only one who would have let me live my life the way I wanted to. So I wasn't allowed to see her and she couldn't see me, and even when we did manage to sneak out and find each other…it just wasn't the same. We didn't have much to say to each other." He smiled sadly, and finally moved into Benji's lap. "I think that's when we both realized how important you were, and…it was too late."
Benji gave him a sorrowful smile. "I never would have left if I thought I had a choice. You know that."
Miguel nodded and smiled. "I know that. I forgave you the minute you showed up on the beach in Cuba."
"And I forgave you long before that," Jillian chimed in.
"Oh, hush, Jill! Always trying to one-up me…"
"Aww, ain't he cute when he pouts?" Jillian pinched her friend's freckled cheek, laughing as he squirmed in his chair.
Benji grinned at their play, the last of the weight dissolving from his heart as they laughed together. Just like old times…
"Okay, enough of this crap. You know what we've been doing, but what's happened with you?"
She shrugged. "Not much."
"Oh, come on, give me more than that! I've caught up on Miguel's entire life story, I know everything he did while I was gone, but I never had the guts to ask about you and he never raised the subject, so I'm totally in the dark here."
"Well…there really isn't much to tell. After Miguel's parents died and he left for Cuba…well, I won't lie, I was totally lost. I had no idea what to do with my life when I had no one to share it with. My parents weren't horrible, but they weren't exactly interested in my life, either. We hardly even knew each other…"
She trailed off, remembering the endless string of governesses she'd gone through as a child, until she was deemed old enough to fend for herself. In her entire life, she couldn't remember ever being with her parents for more than mere hours at a time…
But Jillian was nothing if not resilient, and it was only a matter of moments before she returned to reality and continued.
"So I just sort of flitted from thing to thing for a couple of years, trying all sorts of things that I wasn't very good at. Then I decided to do the 'respectable' thing and start trying to snare a husband, so that occupied a year or so before I realized what a fool I was making of myself."
Benji laughed. "You always were a bit of a flirt."
"Shut up. So after that unpleasant realization kicked in, I was at a total loss. I'd tried everything a woman could possibly do while remaining alone—short of whoring—and met a dead end, I'd met with total failure when I tried to marry, and I honestly had no clue what to do. Then Mama died, and strangely enough, that was what brought Papi and I together. He saw how unhappy I was, and put me on a ship to Cuba after telling me he didn't care what I did or how I put my life together, as long as I came back as myself."
Miguel smiled. "I think 'yourself' is someone he would have really liked to know."
Jillian returned his smile, then punched him in the shoulder. "Oh, hush. Save the mushy stuff for your man."
"Oh, please," Miguel replied airily. "We get enough of the mush when you're not around. This is the moment for sense, and I say that I'm being nothing but sensible."
Jillian just shook her head and smiled.
XXX
It wasn't fair.
Benji had thought things were going so well. He and Miguel had spent barely any time apart since that night at the beach, and—apart from Miguel's semi-occasional lapses into silence and a newfound habit of staring sadly out over the ocean with a troubled expression on his freckled face—everything seemed to have been going smoothly.
But some small part of Benji had always wondered about the reason for Miguel's descents into mild depression; and it had turned out that his suspicions had not been unfounded.
He loves her, Benjamin.
But that girl didn't deserve Miguel. Benji didn't know her—he didn't even know her name—but he knew that for a fact.
Benji walked in a daze, not realizing where his steps were carrying him, so he was quite surprised when he looked up to find himself at the harbor. Upon reflection, it seemed fitting, somehow, and he walked to the end of one of the docks and sat down as though that had been his plan all along.
The sun had nearly passed below the horizon, and a lone ship was just sailing off into it. Benji watched it go, part of him wishing he was already on it and headed somewhere else. Everything would have been so much easier if he and Miguel had never—
You don't mean that, moron.
The part of him that wasn't in complete emotional agony marveled at how much his conscience could sound like Jillian. That amusing thought faded quickly, however, giving way to total gloom.
He kept going over and over the conversation in his head—Miguel's parents telling him that Miguel was engaged, apologizing, talking about how much they wished things had turned out differently, apologizing again…
He didn't know which hurt more—the fact that his crush (for lack of a better word) had gotten engaged, or the fact that his parents had been the one to tell Benji.
But he cares about you. You know he does…
And maybe that was true. In all honesty, Benji was certain it was true. But apparently that hadn't stopped Miguel from—
And with a girl!
Jillian was the only girl either of them had ever spoken more than three or four words to, so the idea of Miguel actually marrying one had never even occurred to him.
Maybe it's all a misunderstanding…maybe Miguel will explain, if I just ask him…
But then, there had been all those times that Miguel had started to speak and stopped himself mid-sentence… Could this be what he'd been trying to tell Benji?
His thoughts chased themselves in circles for hours, until the sun began to rise again and another ship set sail to meet it. The thought that had been tickling the back of his mind throughout the night surfaced once more, and let it come forward unhindered as he wandered dejectedly towards his home.
He knew what he had to do…but that didn't mean he had to like it.
XXX
"Beeeeeen-ji!"
Benji jumped out of his reverie at that beloved voice. "Huh? Sorry…"
"You okay?" Miguel asked, waving the apology aside. "You looked sad."
He smiled slightly and dropped a light kiss on the back of Miguel's hand. "I'm all right. Just thinking."
Jillian grinned. "Yeah, best to avoid that if you can."
"Oh, shut up."
"Now, now, is that really any way to talk to a lady?"
All three blinked and looked up; Jillian had to look right around behind her, and all three had to crane their necks back to look at the huge man standing behind them. He was nearly twice as tall as Miguel, and both Miguel and Benji could have fit comfortably into his chest. His biceps were the size of hams, and Benji doubted there was an ounce of fat underneath the man's skin. To complete the ominous picture, he was leering unpleasantly at them as he leaned over the back of Jillian's chair.
Jillian looked quite unperturbed, smirking in reply to the man's question. "I don't know. Benji, why don't you go find one and ask her?"
"Yeah, it looks like there's one standing right behind Jill," Miguel added. "You won't have to go far."
The man cracked his knuckles threateningly. Benji rather thought his friends were crossing a line, as this thug looked quite capable of tearing Miguel in half with his teeth, but he couldn't help laughing; anyway, the three of them had never had a strong understanding of boundaries or any great respect for the well-being of their own skins.
"What're you laughing at?" The man now moved around the table to loom menacingly over Benji.
Benji blinked up at him. "Well, I was laughing at Miguel, but…now I'm just amusing myself by counting the hairs in your nose. How do you make it grow in ringlets like that, anyway?"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!?"
"…Nose hair. Ringlets. How does that happen?!"
The stranger growled loudly and made a motion as though to grab Benji by the throat, but stopped short and whipped around as Jillian tapped his shoulder. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave my bar if you insist on making trouble."
The giant stared at her as though he hadn't a clue what to make of her. Benji could practically see the cogs working behind his eyes, weighing his options. The horrible sneer returned after a moment. "Only if you'll come with me, beautiful."
Jillian snorted. "Not even in your wildest and most optimistic fantasies, slimeball."
Miguel let out a great whoop of laughter, which only grew louder as the man turned to glare at him. He stifled his laughter admirably quickly and, looking quite unabashed, got to his feet.
Wedging himself between Jillian and the unwelcome newcomer, Miguel looked up at his friend and said, "You should come over to our ship after you close up, Jill. We can…er…well, I know there's something to do there…"
"Hey, I wasn't finished talking to her yet!"
Benji snorted at the stupidity of this statement, standing. "Well, I think it's safe to say she's done talking to you, big boy." the captain grinned as he and the young woman began to walk away.
"You stay out of this, you—" Here, the man let out a string of curses to their backs, so numerous and varied that only Jillian or Rin could have hoped to give him a run for his money.
"Hey, don't talk to him that way!" Miguel yelled indignantly, reaching up (quite alarmingly far, actually) and placing his hand on the man's shoulder in an effort to pull him around.
It happened in a two-second blur of motion. One minute, Miguel was standing confidently with his hand on the massive shoulder, and the next, he was lying on the floor, whimpering quietly and clutching his elbow, which now stuck out at a strange angle and bled dangerously quickly from a deep gash that stretched the length of his arm and across his chest; for a moment, Benji was sickeningly sure he could see bone.
Benji, Jillian, and the entire crew of the Arch Angel were on the man within seconds. Unfortunately, they had neglected to account for the five similarly built men who had been leaning watchfully at intervals along the walls, almost as though they had been waiting for something like this to happen.
"Erik, get Miguel the hell out of here!" Benji ordered, ducking a vicious swing from the man who had hurt his lover and burying his fist in the heavily muscled stomach (it hurt more than it should have).
Erik didn't waste time protesting, but immediately picked up his friend and bolted out the door; the rest of the group was too distracted to notice. Half the bar had now joined the fight, and the other half had simply left to find a quieter place to dwell.
Luckily, most of the patrons appeared to be on the pirate crew's side. This tipped the scales greatly in their favor, and the group made it out of the bar without any further serious injury, leaving the six troublemakers out cold on the floor.
Thinking about what was waiting for him back on the ship, Benji half-wished he was back there with them.
XXX
The sun had just disappeared below the waves to the west, and Benji thought privately that it had been a long time since the night had been so dark. But the moon was up, the stars were out, and he had managed to wrangle himself a place in the crew of an outgoing ship, so all that was left…was…
Nothing. Nothing at all.
That was a depressing thought if there ever was one…
"Beeeeeen-ji!"
Benji blinked heavily and turned around, dropping his bags on the deck just in time to catch Miguel as the redhead launched himself into his arms.
"Why…why are you doing this?"
"…Jillian told you."
Miguel nodded mutely, his face buried in Benji's shoulder. "She…she said…you didn't say why. And that…that she wasn't supposed to tell." There was something accusatory in the otherwise heartbroken tone. "I was... What if I hadn't caught you? What if you'd really gone?"
Benji looked sadly down at the red hair that brushed his chin. "…Miguel…I'm glad you came."
Miguel stiffened, his face still hidden, and waited for him to continue. When he didn't, Miguel pulled sharply away, turning away to look out over the sea. There was a long pause, the silence broken only by the crashing of the waves, before he spoke again, his voice soft and surprisingly steady. "There's nothing I can say to make you stay, is there?"
Benji shook his head slowly.
"Will I…will I ever see you again?"
Benji sighed heavily, taking a few steps forward so that he stood behind Miguel. Without stopping to consider all the reasons he shouldn't, he reached out and started to run his fingers gently through Miguel's hair. "Maybe. In…in a few years. Or…maybe never again, I don't know. But it…it really doesn't matter, you know?" He leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to the back of Miguel's head. "It's only time."
He could practically see Miguel's eyes close to hold in the tears. He must have opened them again, however, because after a moment he lifted his head to look at the sea again. His voice was quiet when he next spoke, and suddenly, he sounded completely at peace. "I'll wait for you, you know."
Benji's eyes widened. "You'll…wait? How…how long?"
Miguel turned to him. "As long as I have to."
Half an hour later, the dock was empty and Benji had climbed aboard the ship to wait quietly for the next morning. By the time his parents woke and discovered where he'd gone, he would be too far beyond the shores of his hometown to hear the ensuing explosion.
He fell asleep that night with Miguel's parting words ringing in his ears.
"Don't make me wait too long, okay?"
XXX
Hours later, Benji silently entered the cabin he shared with Miguel. Erik looked up and gave him a tired smile, moving aside to reveal Miguel asleep on the bed, his torso and arm wrapped heavily in bandages and a splint. He looked disturbingly pale.
"How's he doing?"
"All right. The son of a bitch did a number on him, but I think I got the wounds cleaned and closed up before any kind of infection set in. I set and splinted his arm and gave him something for the pain, so he probably won't wake up until he starts hurting again; you can come get me when he does. Just…make sure he stays in bed, okay? Keep him from being…well, him."
Benji forced a laugh. "You make it sound so easy."
Erik laughed, zipping his bag and heading towards the door. "Yeah, well, just do your best. Monroe's going to make an attempt at dinner tonight, so he'll probably bring something in later, okay?"
Benji nodded. "Thanks, Erik."
Erik just smiled and reached out to lay a hand on his friend's shoulder. "He'll be fine, Ben. I promise."
The smile was returned, although just barely. "Good night."
"Good night."
The door shut almost as silently as it had when Benji had entered, and Benji found himself alone with his unconscious lover. Unaccountably nervous, he pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and reached out to take Miguel's hand. It was too limp…and cold. But his chest still moved slowly up and down as he slept, so Benji's panic was kept momentarily at bay.
Still, he couldn't help remembering the last time they'd said goodbye…and he most definitely didn't want to repeat that experience.
Even Benji couldn't say for sure why he'd left that day. Miguel had asked him to stay…he clearly wasn't planning on being with anyone else… But at the time, before he'd heard the other side of the story, he'd simply assumed that Miguel wanted him to stay so that they could continue their affair in secret after the marriage became final. Benji didn't want to live that way. He didn't want to be the other man…
You should've known he would never do that to you, idiot.
XXX
It had been far, far too long since Benji had been home.
In fact, he couldn't even recall being happy to see this beach; it had been so long since he'd set foot here, and most of the memories he had of the place were unhappy ones. He remembered the day he'd said goodbye to it—he remembered that moment with remarkable clarity—but that was about it. Everything else was a total blur.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was one other thing worth remembering… And it was standing on the beach in front of him.
Absolutely nothing had changed. He had gotten taller, but the hair was still as red, the green eyes still danced with a humor that could not be faked or imitated, the body still moved with an unmistakable grace…even his freckles were exactly the same as Benji remembered.
Miguel was still Miguel. Benji doubted that would ever change.
And there was one other thing that time had somehow failed to touch. When their eyes met, the world and everything in it immediately fell away. Every single time.
He doesn't even seem surprised to see me.
But then, very few things had ever managed to take Miguel by surprise.
That was the last thought he had before Miguel spoke, and all rational thought was chased away.
Later on, Benji was unable to recall exactly what was said in that conversation. He wasn't even entirely sure they'd had one. All he knew for sure was that he'd received his first kiss that day.
Benji learned two very important things on the beach that day. The first thing he learned was that the romance novels didn't lie—the fireworks really did happen during a first kiss, and they were far more intense than even the best author could possibly capture.
The second was that Miguel had been worth the wait.
XXX
Benji somehow managed to drift off to sleep in the chair next to Miguel's bed, one of the thin, pale hands clenched tightly in his. His brief respite was plagued with nightmares, and altogether, it was a relief when Miguel's grip tightened on his hand and he was pulled back to reality.
"Miguel?"
"Mmm…that's my name…yup…"
Benji made an odd noise—something between a sob and a laugh, which only ended up sounding like a mouse being strangled.
Miguel's eyes opened a fraction. "You make funny noises, Benji. It makes me worry."
Benji made the sound again, leaning forward to kiss his lover's forehead. "How are you feeling, baby?"
"Mmm…floaty. Erik drugged me, didn't he?"
"I told him to."
"Hmph."
"Don't be mad."
"M'not. M'tired."
"Oh."
Miguel forced his eyes fully open to rest on his lover. He gave Benji's wrist a weak tug. "C'mere."
It cost Benji great effort to shake his head at the request. "I don't think I should, cariño."
Miguel snorted. "Since when do you care whether you should?"
Benji couldn't come up with an argument for that, so he reluctantly climbed into the bed and curled up next to Miguel, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. "There, happy now?"
"Yes."
Silence fell then, and Miguel's good hand rose to play absently through the white hair under his chin. They remained like that for several minutes, and Benji would have been inclined to think that Miguel had gone back to sleep, had it not been for the gentle hand that still stroked his head.
"You're quiet," Miguel finally commented.
"I guess."
The hand stopped moving, and Benji felt more insecure without that soothing touch than he would have admitted even to Miguel. "Benji, what's wrong?"
Benji didn't say anything for a moment, choosing instead to bring his hand up to Miguel's chest and pluck absently at the corner of one of the bandages. His voice was scarcely more than a whisper when he finally replied, "You scared me."
Miguel blinked, then smiled slightly and pressed a kiss to the top of the tousled head.
"When you fell…God, there was so much blood, Miguel. I didn't understand how there could be so much in someone so small. And you were so pale and you didn't move, and I thought…just for a minute, I thought you were…"
"Shh," Miguel interrupted, lightly kissing Benji's hair again.
Benji obeyed—he usually did. Turning his head, he placed a kiss on Miguel's shoulder. "I love you, mi querido."
"I love you, too."
Long after the redhead drifted back to sleep, his lover lay awake, trying to figure out a way to hold the injured man without hurting him. He was still debating when Miguel, still fast asleep, reached down and slipped his hand into Benji's.